Faith Always In The Heart......Rest Easy

Thursday, October 23, 2008 4:58 PM EDT
By JOHN M. ROMAN, jroman@delcotimes.com
MEDIA COURTHOUSE – Nearly three months after a 16-year-old Ridley Township girl was fatally run down crossing an intersection in Sharon Hill, an Upper Darby man was arrested and charged Thursday in her hit-and-run death.

Lemuel Payne, 27, of the 300 block of South State Road, was initially identified as “a person of interest” within a week after the Aug. 3 death of Faith Sinclair, when police confirmed he was the owner of the striking car. But yesterday, his birthday, Payne was charged before Magisterial District Judge Edward J. Gannon Jr. in Sharon Hill with an accident involving death or personal injury, failure to immediately notify police of an accident, failure to give information and render aid at an accident scene and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

He was held in lieu of 10 percent of $750,000 bail pending a hearing Tuesday. If he makes bail, he would go on electronic home monitoring.Police recovered a black side-view mirror cover with a Mercedes-Benz emblem later determined to fit a 2000-2003 S-class Mercedes at the scene.
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Payne was seen leaving his garage and getting into a Volkswagen, registered to his mother, a resident of Philadelphia, on Aug. 6 during surveillance. Police with a search warrant determined the Mercedes concealed in the garage had damage consistent with a vehicle in a pedestrian accident. The registration plate had been removed and it was covered with two blankets.

Payne had obtained defense lawyer Mark Much within days of the accident, which occurred 10:15 p.m. Aug. 3 as Sinclair tried to cross Chester Pike and Laurel Road. He initially declined to talk to authorities. At the time, he wasn’t named a suspect in the case. Payne finally turned himself in to county detectives at the courthouse shortly after 9 a.m. Thursday with his attorney.

On Aug. 7, a witness told authorities he had seen the recovered car at a pool party the day of the accident, records state. A key witness, Marc Stephens, Payne’s immediate supervisor at Deer Park water company in Pennsauken, N.J., in an interview told police he received a call from Payne the evening of Aug. 8 – five days after the accident – saying he wouldn’t be coming to work the next day because he was sick, an affidavit states. Payne also didn’t show up for work on the morning of Aug. 6, Stephens told police. That evening, Stephens received a call from another employee, a friend of Payne’s, and was told to call Payne. When Stephens called Payne he “… explained that he was in trouble,” an affidavit states. Payne went on to explain that “… he was involved in an accident and he hit a girl and that she died as a result,” Stephens told police. Payne also informed him that he was in the process of getting an attorney and was going to turn himself in. Payne didn’t show up for work that Thursday and Stephens got a call from Payne in the afternoon. “During this conversation, Payne asked Stephens to disregard the conversation they had about the accident and that as far as they were concerned it was hearsay,” according to the affidavit. However, Stephens immediately refused, county District Attorney G. Michael Green pointed out at a press conference. With that, Payne just said OK and added he wouldn’t be at work until Monday.

“Mr. Stephens identified Lemuel Payne as the driver of the vehicle striking and killing Faith Sinclair Ferrell,” Green said. If convicted, Payne will face a one-year mandatory minimum sentence regarding the charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving death, Green said. Asked about the length of time taken to make an arrest, Green said there has been an ongoing investigation and he was not permitted to discuss part of the technique of investigation used.

Green said he could not confirm or deny any information about an investigative grand jury in connection with the accident. Anyone having information regarding the girl’s death or Payne should immediately contact Sharon Hill police at (610) 237-6200. Green said he didn’t believe they “have the entire story of what happened that afternoon and evening involving Lemuel Payne and the operation of that motor vehicle. An ongoing investigation concerns those facts which we do not have.” Green declined to speculate or theorize whether Payne had been drinking at the time. “Let me say this: we don’t believe we have all the facts.” Authorities believe there were a number of other individuals at that pool party who may have information and Green urged them to contact authorities. The Daily Times asked whether there was a passenger in Payne’s car at the time of the accident. Green said there is a possibility that Payne had a passenger. “We have not identified that passenger” and that is part of an ongoing investigation, he said.

Green admitted the case has been personally frustrating.“What we need to (do), in a case like this, take it one step at a time which we’ve been doing in the days and weeks since Aug. 3rd when this terrible thing happened involving the death of Faith Sinclair Ferrell.” Green said Payne knew that he struck a living person, but he declined to say whether Payne confessed to authorities.

Green and his assistants met with the family moments before the press conference.“I believe that they’re happy that the charging decision has been made, that we’ve been able to confirm a number of the essential facts in the case, including the striking vehicle, the driver and a timeline as to what happened that evening,” Green said. “They are devastated by the loss of their daughter,” he said. “And there’s no question that they will never get over the loss of their daughter and never get over the fact that a 16-year-old girl with everything in front of her in life was tragically taken from them.”